BARRHEAD - Onward and upward.
County of Barrhead reeve Doug Drozd says residents have a lot of reasons to be optimistic for the coming year, thanks to gains the municipality made in 2022.
The Barrhead Leader sat down with Drozd following council’s Dec.20 meeting to discuss some of the municipality's successes in 2022 and where he potentially sees the municipality heading in 2023.
He noted much of the county's fortunes and growth are connected to Kiel Industrial Park.
The county bought the quarter section of land located at NE 27-59-3-W5, which is immediately south of the Northplex plant on Range Road 32, for $575,000 from the Kiel family in 2012 for the purpose of creating an industrial park. The land is zoned direct control.
In early April 2022, the sale came to fruition when the municipality announced that it had sold two lots to GFR Pharma, the owners of GFR Ingredients. GFR Ingredients is a producer and supplier of plant-based proteins. Its current plant is in Barrhead in the old Northern Alberta Dairy Pool (also known as Nu-Maid Dairies) facility.
The county hopes once GFR is up and running, it will help attract other businesses to the industrial park.
Drozd also noted the county also leased an additional two Kiel lots to Benedict Pipeline. The integrated oil and gas contractor will use the lots as a temporary base while it constructs the Key Access Pipeline System (KAPS).
"They will probably be there until the third quarter of 2023, and that will bring in a little additional revenue on top of the improvements they've already made to the site," he said.
Drozd called those improvements significant as they will help attract other potential buyers to the park.
Another significant project the county undertook in 2022 that will continue to pay benefits into the new year is a partnership made with MCSnet worth $1.6 million to increase the amount of fibre Internet trunkline to the industrial park and the hamlets of Neerlandia, Thunder Lake and Manola; and for residents around Lac La Nonne. The county's financial contribution to the project is $583,250, which came entirely from reserves.
"MCSnet is making those final connections with the hamlets now, and soon they will flip the switch," Drozd said, adding MCSnet is approaching each residence.
He also noted that the municipality, through Rural Municipalities of Alberta, will continue to pressure telecommunication companies to improve cellular service in the county as not only does it impede potential growth, but is a safety issue for residents unable to call 911.
Drozd added he also was pleased that the county will go forward with a complete package of road re-building paving projects that council approved at its Dec. 20 meeting.
Specifically, Drozd he referred to a trio of paving projects, including the Auto Wreckers (Range Road 40) road between Highways 33 and 18; Range Road 22, south of Dunstable; and overlay replacement on Thunder Lake roads. The projects are slated for completion in the summer of 2023.
"I would have hated to see them part-way done," he said. "We've been working towards completing (Range Road 40) for an especially long time."
He noted that about two miles on both ends of Range Road 40 were paved but until paving was complete, trucks with heavy loads coming from Fort Assiniboine or Swan Hills were hesitant to use it. "Which is a potential safety issue for the Town of Barrhead."
In 2023, the county is also looking forward to having its own community police officer (CPO). Traditionally, Lac Ste. Anne County has provided the service for a fee.
The problem with the arrangement is the municipality received limited services as it was capped at 80 hours monthly.
"This will give us much more flexibility and increased enforcement," he said, adding they hope to have someone in place by April.
The county's contract with Lac Ste. Anne expires at the end of January. Until the municipality's CPO is in place, county manager Debbie Oyarzun will serve as the county's bylaw officer.
"This is one of the areas that in our annual budget survey, residents wanted to see more coverage and enforcement," Drozd said. "I see it in my division (Division 1, encompassing the southeast portion of the County of Barrhead and borders both Lac Ste. Anne and Sturgeon counties). There are some people in the subdivisions that are very frustrated with unsightly premises, and we will soon have someone that can pay special attention to those properties and complaints."
As for any potential concerns that the new funding Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) model that will replace the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding will decrease, Drozd said he isn't too concerned.
"At some point, you have to take them at their word," he said. "Listening to Danielle Smith, she always seems committed to rural Alberta. And (Minister of Agriculture) Nate Horner recently talked about the plans the government has for developing rural Alberta, including keeping the LGFF a stable funding source."
Drozd ended the interview by saying he believed the province's economy had turned the corner.
"Agriculture seems to be very strong, and by all indications, oil and gas will continue to be strong and looking at our assessment, there is not only an increase in the value but the number of properties, and it speaks to our ability to grow steadily and sustainably," he said.
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